Just one month after launching its full complement of content on the Helio network, YouTube took its new mobile platform worldwide. Thursday it brought its whole video catalog to the mobile device, allowing anyone to access any video from the mobile Web site, m.youtube.com or, from some phones, a downloadable Java client. It’s allowing people to log in and access personalized setting, and enabling sharing, ratings and comments. And what’s more, YouTube is supporting the upload of video directly from the mobile phone. I probably don’t need to emphasize the importance of this. No content sharing service or social networking site has yet extended all of its content and functionality to its mobile portal. It’s quite simply a boon to the industry. Or it would have been. Unfortunately the service doesn’t appear to work. more…
The new bids are in, and the D-block public safety band has yet to attract another bid since the opening round. Its opening bid of $472 million is still far below the $1.3 billion reserve price set by the FCC. The auction is still far from over, but the more rounds go by without the license being bid, the more worried the FCC and the public safety community may become that their long-dreamed of national emergency network won’t have a commercial backer. As Current Analysis’ Bill Ho told us for an earlier post, such a predicament could be awfully embarassing for the public safety community. more…
The 700 MHz auction kicked off today with two rounds of bidding, racking up a total $2.425 billion. Unlike previous auctions, the FCC is keeping secret the leading bidders’ names, revealing them only after the auction concludes. But the bids themselves are public and the biggest bid so far is for the C block, a package of 8 regional licenses covering all 50 states. The open-access spectrum block attracted two bids in two rounds, ending at $2.25 billion for the day. more…
HP this week delivered a major platform update for its NG OSS portfolio, adding a handful of new features but more importantly adding key underlying capabilities and standards deployments that set a new baseline for future OSS feature releases.
The updates include a new 6.0 version of HP’s TeMIP fault management system and new 5.0 version of HP Service Activator Software. Also on tap: a partnership with Cisco to deliver a managed services management solution for carriers running Cisco-based IP networks. more…
AT&T said today it expects to begin pair-bonding advanced DSL lines in “late 2008,” pushing back the expected arrival of what the company says is an important part of its fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) initiative.
more…
By its own estimates Nokia achieved 40% global handset market share in the fourth quarter after a strong holiday sales season and increased dominance in the developing markets. Nokia is clearly benefiting from Motorola’s failure to execute on its new products, but Nokia’s momentum may have inspired CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo to be a bit more daring. He claimed Nokia would regain its lost market share in North America, the only region where Nokia is not the market leader. more…
AT&T is expecting a strong 2008, with consolidated revenue growth in the mid-single digits, a significant expansion in margins and continued double-digit growth in earnings per share — even if the U.S. economy continues to struggle, Senior Executive Vice President and CFO Rick Lindner told financial analysts today.
The financial markets reacted badly earlier this month, when AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson mentioned a slowdown in the consumer market, and some analysts questioned whether AT&T had taken into account the current economic times when making its relatively rosy 2008 projections. more…
Though optical transport equipment vendor Sorrento Networks was absorbed by Zhone Technologies in 2004, a new incarnation of Sorrento launched this month, acquiring those products back from Zhone. Its CEO Jim Nevelle spoke with Telephony about the startup’s plans.
more…
Little Soma Networks has hit the WiMAX jackpot, announcing today it is rolling out what it believes is the largest WiMAX network in the world in India. Though Soma did not reveal any financial details of the deal, it said India’s telecom incumbent Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has tapped Soma for networks in four of India’s states in a rollout that will target 400 cities and towns in the next two years. more…
Driven by disappointing sales of the Razr 2, Motorola today reported fourth-quarter earnings of $100 million, down from $623 million in Q4 of last year. Sales for the Chicago-based communications company fell in the last three months to $9.65 billion from $11.79 billion in the same period a year earlier. more…
